Saudi Arabia releases two women’s rights activists

Will not be able to travel abroad for 5 years, ban on posting online

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Saudi Arabia releases two women's rights activists

Dubai: Two women’s rights activists from Saudi Arabia have been released from jail. About three years ago, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took massive action against women activists who peacefully advocated for greater freedom. Human rights groups reported on Sunday the release of two women’s rights activists.

All activists detained in the 2018 crackdown appear to have been released from prison, but the release of Maya al-Zahrani, a female activist, is not yet clear. The London-based ALQST rights group, which mainly focused on Saudi Arabia, said two women – Samar Badawi and Nasima al-Sada – were released late Saturday night or early Sunday. Human Rights Watch also confirmed his release.

The women were sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, of which two years’ sentences have been suspended. These women had openly criticized Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship laws. These laws empowered women’s husbands, fathers, and in some cases their sons to control women in relation to obtaining passports and traveling. He also advocated giving women the right to drive. Both of these restrictions have been removed.

Saudi Arabia releases two women's rights activists

Human rights groups told the Associated Press that both women were conditionally released and could not travel abroad for five years. She said the two women, like other Saudi women’s rights activists released from prison, could face a ban from speaking to the media and posting anything online about their case.

Earlier, about a dozen women told Saudi judges that during interrogation, masked men had hit them on their backs and thighs with canes and tortured them by taking them underwater. Some women allege that they were forcibly touched and were threatened with rape and death. A woman attempted suicide in jail.

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